


Digital World, Real Friends

by Silvex



Series: Digital Investigators [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure, Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Bad Cooking, Bad Ideas, Bad Puns, Teddie Being Teddie, These Are Teenagers, Zen sold them out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvex/pseuds/Silvex
Summary: The Investigation Team has not yet formed. In fact, it is just over a year before Souji moves to Inaba. Yet they still end up meeting somehow.Rather, desperation forced the Digital World to take them on as saviors, when they have no clue how to do this hero business whatsoever. Nor do they know how to get along just yet. Or even want to.Who thought this was a good idea, again?





	1. Chapter 1

This story starts in a world made out of computer data. A world that, after coming under threat a very long time ago, even by the standards of a world where time did not flow nearly as fast, had been peaceful ever since. A world where turmoil was once again beginning.

“Should we do what we did before?” Homeostasis suggested. Intangible, and invisible to all but a few, she perched at the edge of a computer monitor. “You know, pick a few random humans and throw them in head first?”

“We’d need to prepare partners, first,” Gennai reminded her. “And picking randomly doesn’t help. What sort of pool would we choose from?”

“I knew I should have suggested this to Benjamin…” She muttered. “He’d be all for it. Without needing to think about it. Well,” She continued, louder, “We’d need someone able to communicate with me, at least. I suppose we could ask Philemon for ideas…”

“Might I make a suggestion?” They weren’t even surprised.

“Chronos. What are you doing here? Better question, why do you look different?” The god glanced at his outfit, which was significantly more casual than what he’d worn for their previous meetings, few and far between as they were.

“That is… a personal matter, really. But my suggestions can be backed up by Philemon, for all it’s worth.” The file was placed in front of them, and Gennai opened it. Peering over his shoulder, Homeostasis latched on to one part she found particularly interesting.

“Are you sure-?”

“I thought you’d appreciate the irony.” Huh. She’d never seen him smile before. “And he should be available by this point in time.”

She sighed. “If this were just eight Real World years earlier, we could have gotten those kids from Odaiba… but we have no clue where they are now. Might as well. It’ll only take us a few years here to set up, anyway.”

“It’s good you agree.” Chronos turned, walked away, and vanished. Not that he’d given them a chance to argue… nor did they have any better options.

* * *

  
  


“High school starts next week,” Amagi Yukiko commented, lying down by the riverbank. “What do you think about that, Chie?”

“I dunno,” Satonaka Chie responded. “I just want to enjoy this last week before I have to grow up… I mean, high school. What am I supposed to do about that? You’re the one with all the great grades.” She nudged a rock with her foot and it rolled down into the Samegawa, making a rather loud splash.

“Chie! You’ll scare the fish!”

“It’s not like we were gonna catch anything.” Chie glanced at the line, which held Yukiko’s extremely poor attempt at a sandwich. Which was giving off toxic fumes. From underwater.

In all honesty, they were more likely to poison the fish than catch them.

“We can at least try… huh. What’s that?” Chie glanced to the sky where her friend was pointing.

“That’s the sun, Yukiko.”

“Not that! Under the sun!” Chie squinted.

“I don’t know, but it’s heading this way. I guess we’ll see soon enough.”

Roughly five seconds later, two blue gadgets embedded themselves in the shore. Overcome by curiosity, they both picked them up. They disappeared five seconds later.

* * *

  
  


Tatsumi Kanji glared first at the hole in his bedroom window, and second at the glowing device sitting in the middle of several shards of broken glass. He picked up the object for the sake of throwing it back out the window.

He never had the chance.

* * *

  
  


Seta Souji had his window open so he wouldn’t choke from the dust of what he was trying to unpack that he never got around to during his last move six months prior. That the device embedded itself in his desk was just another annoyance.

Prying it out of the wood, he only had time to think that he’d need a new desk before falling unconscious.

* * *

  
  


Kujikawa Rise kept performing uninterrupted.

* * *

  
  


In a world full of Shadows, one of them sat alone in the middle of an intense fog. That is, until he noticed something that wasn’t part of the fog. An odd blue light.

He was far too curious for his own good, but it did work out this time. Much better.

* * *

  
  


Hanamura Yosuke shoved the last of the things he’d need for school in his bag. There. He’d be entirely prepared when it started the next week. Which meant he now had the week to goof off.

Or not. Because he just so happened to pick up the object sitting innocently on his windowsill, which killed all of his plans for his foreseeable future.

* * *

  
  


Shirogane Naoto found her device falling on her desk while she was working. Her grandfather had just opened to door to talk to her, but she disappeared too quickly for anything to happen.

They never did have that conversation he wanted.

* * *

  
  


“Ugh… turn off the sun…” Yosuke groaned, rolling over on the ground… wait… this wasn’t where he was earlier, was it?

“But Yosuke, if I turn off the sun, how will all the plants grow?” A small voice squeaked in his ear. He pushed himself up to glare at the speaker, only to notice that it was an adorable ball of white fluff.

“What… what are you?”

“I’m your Digimon partner! It’s good to meet you, Yosuke, I’m Tokomon!”

It was too early in the universe for this. Yosuke lay back down in the hopes that if he did, the weirdness would go away. It didn’t.

“Come on, Yosuke, don’t you want to meet the others?”

“...Others?”

* * *

  
  


“So, let me get this straight,” Souji stated, looking at the clearly foreign boy playing with the long tassel-like ears of his pink blob in front of him, his own significantly less cuddly orange blob in his lap. “You aren’t from here either.”

The boy shook his head. “No, my world is full of fog.”

“...Right. And you actually aren’t human, apparently.”

“I’m normally a bear!” He volunteered cheerfully.

“Okay, then… you also haven’t told me your name yet.” This caused the other boy to wince.

“I… don’t really have one yet… And I haven’t had time to think of one...”

“What about Teddie?” The pink blob suggested. “I mean, you say you’re a bear, and it can actually be used as a name.”

“That… that sounds nice… Okay, then! My name’s Teddie!”

Tsunomon opened his eyes from where he rested on Souji’s lap. “Two overly bright and cheerful beings in the same room as each other for the foreseeable future… Souji-san, could I ask you to get me some earplugs?”

He nodded. After all, if the other ones that he’d been told were coming were anything like these two… he might be needing them for himself.

* * *

  
  


“I’m not sure what’s weirder,” Chie commented, glancing at where her Bukamon sat on her shoulder. “That these things exist, or that Kanji-kun has a girl partner and I don’t.”

Yukiko smiled and ruffled Yokomon’s petals. “He and Tane-chan do get along rather well, don’t they?”

The boy walking ahead of them was currently still locked in cuteness overload over his tiny plant. This would not change until they reached their destination.

* * *

  
  


“Were we meeting this way? I think it was this way…” Motimon mumbled, which reminded Naoto that she was entrusting her fate in the hands of a pink blob that had somehow known her name.

“Are you sure you know where we’re going?”

“I’m sure! Come on, I hear voices this way! It has to be where we’re all going to meet!” Being led out into the bushes, Naoto blinked and took in the rather large number of other kids her age, each of them with their own miniature companion. Six, to be precise.

“Hey, is this the last one?” The largest of them, a boy, asked.

“It should be,” The gray creature on another girl’s shoulder remarked. “We don’t know of any others, at least.”

“Good. I can’t take many more people…” Another boy, one with silver hair muttered. “Anyway, welcome to the madhouse. I’m Seta Souji.”

“Um… are you a boy or a girl?” The girl with the gray creature asked. Naoto was completely prepared to lie, until…

“She’s a girl.”

“Motimon-san!”

“You know, I don’t see why it’s a big deal nobody knows that.” Blushing, she slid her still slightly too large cap down over her face.

“...Shirogane Naoto. I assume you were being serious about this being a madhouse?”

“Might as well have been. This is my partner, Tsunomon. The spaz next to me is Teddie. Apparently, he wasn’t even human until today and is from a world different to ours. His partner is Koromon.”

“I’m Amagi Yukiko,” A girl with long black hair introduced herself. “These are my friends, Satonaka Chie and Tatsumi Kanji. Our partners are, respectively, Yokomon, Bukamon, and Tanemon.”

“And I’m Hanamura Yosuke. This is Tokomon. We’re trapped someplace we don’t know. School starts next week. I vote we find a way home before then.”

“I thought that was obvious,” Chie said. “I mean, everyone’s gonna worry about us, and we’ll be grounded for like forever.”

“I disappeared right in front of my grandfather,” Naoto realized. “So at least he realizes I’m missing. Will anyone notice you’re gone before tonight?” There was a large number of negative responses. “So with the exception of myself, we have eight hours to try and find our way back.”

“We should stick together!” Tanemon volunteered. “There’s a lot of big and scary Digimon out there, but so long as we stay together we can take on anything short of a Kuwagamon.”

“The hell’s a Kuwagamon?” Kanji asked. They suddenly heard a loud buzzing. “Wait… don’t tell me…”

Tanemon nodded, as much a little head could. “That’s a Kuwagamon. We should run now.”

* * *

  
  


Today was a bad day. Chie understood that much, what with the sandwich from the blackest pits of hell, the reminder of school, and being stranded in the middle of a jungle in the middle of nowhere with very few people she actually knew, but the cliff, at this point, was really unnecessary.

“We’re going to die we’re going to die we’re going to die….” She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down.” She hadn’t expected Souji to willingly touch anyone, given that he didn’t seem all that happy about their presence. “Freaking out isn’t going to help us.”

“R-right…” Deep breaths. Ignore the giant insect trying to bisect everyone. Up until Bukamon’s presence on her shoulder disappeared. “Bukamon! What are you doing!?”

“Trying to help!” All around her, the others were having the same argument with their partners, to the same results. No. This couldn’t be happening. These adorable little blobs were their allies. They couldn’t be left alone in a place none of them knew. And then light. So much light.

“Tsunomon Digivolve to Gabumon!”

“Bukamon Digivolve to Gomamon!”

“Yokomon Digivolve to Biyomon!”

“Tokomon Digivolve to Patamon!”

“Koromon Digivolve to BlackAgumon!”

“Motimon Digivolve to Tentomon!”

“Tanemon Digivolve to Palmon!”

They weren’t the same now, were they? But she heard the overly enthusiastic cheers, and kept an eye on the one that was hers. Gomamon. She had the feeling that name would stick more often than not.

Still, their seven Digimon against giant insect Kuwagamon was still not perfect odds. Not that it stopped them.

“Blue Blaster!” Gabumon led, being the one to begin the attack. Gomamon didn’t do much in the fight, but she noted that BlackAgumon and Biyomon were more than pulling their weight. It evened out, but still…

It didn’t matter to her. They still won, and she wasn’t bug food. That was sort of the highest priority by virtue of becoming a priority in the first place. And because it was a bug.

“Chie-chan! Chie-chan, did I do well?” Gomamon asked, wide eyes staring at her.

“You… you did fine, Gomamon… I mean, the bug is gone, so…” And then the Kuwagamon fell out of the trees, neatly destroying the edge of their cliff.

Fortunately, Gomamon could control fish, bringing him up several stages of awesome in her mind. So it all worked out.

Now, if only everything else could go as smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is a thing. Yes, they all have canonical Crests, though Light's not in there and Kindness is. Because while giving the Crest of Light to a Shadow would be hilarious, it's also stupid.  
> Seta Souji is Seta Souji because of Persona Q's character limit, my introduction to the P4 story was the manga, and I do not want to kill my spellchecker. Besides, alliteration. Fun.  
> Partners were drawn randomly out of a hat, but this does work. If anyone else had gotten Koromon, he would have become a regular Agumon. Not sure what would have happened if Teddie drew Patamon. It likely would have been both tragic and funny.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After surviving their first ordeal, the team decides to try and get back on their feet. They decide to follow the river for a bit, and then Yukiko comes up with the idea of a beach day.  
> It's all downhill from there.

“Here you are, Naoto,” Tentomon buzzed, handing her back her hat. Over Chie’s head, which caused her to flinch and scramble away.

“Satonaka, are you scared of bugs?” Yosuke teased.

“Sh-shut up!” She pushed him away, knocking him into BlackAgumon and almost sending the reptile over the edge of the fish, causing Teddie to lunge for his claw.

“Chie’s never liked bugs,” Yukiko chimed in. “She thinks their legs are creepy. Tentomon doesn’t seem to really have that, though.”

“He’s still a bug!” Chie immediately retorted.

Souji groaned. “As interesting as it is to see you wind up Satonaka, I feel like I should remind you that her Gomamon is the only reason we’re on top of the water instead of drowning.”

“You can’t swim?” Gabumon asked.

“I never bothered to learn. Felt it didn’t matter. I might reconsider once we get back, though.” His partner nodded, as though satisfied with his answer, and leaned back. The wet fur smell would have been a problem, if not for the fact that they were all completely soaked, with the exception of those Digimon that could fly.

“Uh, guys, I can see a shore up ahead. Should we get off there?” Kanji asked.

“If we stay here for much longer, I’m afraid Satonaka-san might kill us,” Naoto replied. “Or at least Hanamura-san. That would be… unfortunate.”

“Yes, I can just imagine the rest of you trying to explain it to the police without trying to sound crazy,” Yosuke groaned. Souji couldn’t help but smile. Utterly insane or not, they were definitely entertaining.

 

* * *

 

“So, how far did the river take us, anyway?” Biyomon asked, fluttering above the treetops. “I can’t see anyplace I recognize, and you’re the only one who’s ever left that section of the jungle, Gomamon.”

“It’s pretty far. The only way back that doesn’t involve scaling cliffs means going to the ocean and back again.” Souji sighed. That was not a good sign.

“Should we even bother trying to find a way back?” Chie asked. “I mean, nobody’s even gonna know where to start looking for us, and I’ve certainly never seen Seta or Hanamura around Inaba before.”

“Perhaps,” Naoto admitted. “But our Digimon do know the area there. At the very least, barring another attack by more powerful Digimon, we should be able to survive.”

“Assuming we can get there,” BlackAgumon added. “I’ve heard that a lot of areas outside our jungle are Devimon controlled territory.”

Now that was interesting. “Devimon?” Souji asked.

“Well, our jungle wasn’t in his territory, but we’ve heard about him. He’s… not a Digimon you take lightly, that’s for sure.” Palmon shuddered.

“Right…” Souji sighed. “So I guess we should avoid him if possible?”

“Depends. How much do you like staying alive?”

“...Let’s just take that as a yes.”

* * *

  
  


“Get off, Patamon!” Yosuke shook his head, dislodging his partner.

“But Yosuke, I can’t fly all that fast!”

“You have legs, don’t you? Use those! Don’t sit on my head!”

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Gabumon asked. Souji shrugged.

“Does it matter?” They both winced as Yosuke swiped at Patamon, who swerved into a tree. “Actually, yeah, I hope they will. Don’t need him accidentally flying into me.”

Just behind them, Teddie stopped for a moment and sniffed the air. “Something smells different.”

“What do you mean, Teddie-san? How would you describe this new scent?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe… salty, I think? I’m not beary good at human words yet…”

“You’ve got a good nose, Teddie!” Gomamon called from the river. “There’s a beach not much further from here.”

“Oh, Chie, did you hear?” Yukiko asked, grabbing her friend’s hand. “We can have a beach day!”

“Yukiko, I’m pretty sure none of us have swimsuits with us.”

“I don’t just mean to swim. The sun’s nice, too.”

“We never get much sun in the jungle,” Biyomon remarked. “Just a few spots here and there, unless we wanted to climb the trees. And that’s where the Kunemon live.”

“Are Kunemon very dangerous?” Souji asked. Gabumon shook his head.

“No, but they come in large numbers. They eat the leaves that grow up top, and think anything climbing is a threat to their food supply.”

“That brings up an important point,” Naoto stated. “Food. If we can’t find a way home today, we’ll need to figure out how to feed ourselves.”

“Don’t expect me or Yukiko to help with that,” Chie groaned. “Currently, her attempt at a sandwich is killing all the fish in the Samegawa.”

“I’m inclined to ask how,” Souji deadpanned.

“I don’t know!” Yukiko tried to defend herself. “It just… came out visibly toxic. I didn’t even add any purple ingredients this time!”

“...Eggplant?” Tentomon suggested.

“Plums, actually. And that’s beside the point. The point is, we can’t help with food.”

“I can tell which plants are poisonous,” Palmon volunteered. “I mean, if it’s okay with you, Kanji-san…”

“...Huh? Well, yeah, if I’m gonna be eating that stuff, it better not be poisonous. And the others are here, so it makes sense to check on them, too.”

“We’re gonna be eating vegetarian for a while, aren’t we?” Chie groaned. “At least we won’t have to cook it… Wait, do you hear that?”

They all paused for a moment, until the sound returned- a telephone, Souji realized. His own cell phone hadn’t gotten any reception, but maybe a landline out…

“What is that?” Teddie asked.

“That’s a telephone,” Naoto answered. “It’s a way for humans to communicate with each other over a great distance. My personal one doesn’t have service out here, but if someone could call in-”

“We might be able to call out!” Yosuke realized. “Shirogane, you’re a genius!”

“I have been labelled as such,” She conceded, a slight grin on her face. Souji allowed himself to relax. Soon, they’d have people looking for them, and they could go home.

 

* * *

 

“So, if the weather report said ice cream… what would be proper clothing for the situation?” Yukiko asked.

“Um… senpai… You do realize that it’s all probably nonsense, right?” Kanji asked. “I mean, this place is weird, but no way is it gonna start raining ice cream.”

Chie sighed. “Well, at least Teddie, BlackAgumon, and Gomamon are having fun.” She glanced out at the waves, where her partner was having a splash fight with the other two. “He’ll probably be pretty uncomfortable later, though.”

Souji shrugged. It wasn’t his problem. “To be fair, none of our clothes have completely dried yet.”

“At least our phones still supposedly work,” Yukiko stated. “And these things.” She unclipped a small blue object from her jacket’s pocket- the same as the one he kept in his. “When the Digimon changed, I could see them glow.”

Which was true, although Souji was surprised anyone bothered to mention it. He thought they’d be focusing on more important things, like going home and pretending none of this ever happened.

He hung up his own phone, which was currently going on about the now-defunct Nyxism cult, and left the booth. “Nothing. I tried redialling, but that just put me on a worse line.”

There was a splash as Gomamon, Teddie, and BlackAgumon fled the water. “I can feel something big coming!” Gomamon shouted. “And my fish friends may have made it worse! Get to high ground!”

Souji didn’t need to be told twice. Even as the ground began to shake, he kept running, up until the twisted remains of the telephone booths landed on the path off of the beach that didn’t require contact with the enemy.

“Of course,” Yosuke muttered. “Now what do we do?”

“There’s a lot of glass here,” Naoto noted. “It would be difficult to climb over them without sustaining injuries.”

“But we don’t have the time to be careful, either,” Gabumon commented, glancing back at the pink shellfish that had just emerged. “Shellmon are mainly weak to elemental attacks, but they still soak up a lot of damage… sometimes literally.”

“We might be able to slip around,” Chie suggested. “We just need a distraction or something.”

“I’ll do it,” Souji suggested. “Gabumon at least seems capable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Biyomon asked.

“It’s okay, Piyo-chan,” Yukiko reassured her. “Seta-kun just wants to make sure everyone else gets out. And you’re more likely to hit its shell, anyway.”

“Are you sure about this, Souji-san?” Gabumon asked.

“I am reasonably confident in our abilities to get away from it. You might have noticed that it isn’t very fast.”

“And you actually think we can do it?”

“...I do.” It wasn’t even a lie, really. They had as good a chance as anyone else. All they had to do was buy time. Simple. “Let’s go, Gabumon.”

Start with a run. Throw some broken glass at it. Gabumon’s attacks were surprisingly effective. And then Souji cut it just a bit too close. Shellmon’s hand was faster than he’d expected, knocking him down into the sand. He’d be spending the next three hours trying to get it out of his mouth.

He wasn’t sure if the blinding light from his odd device made it better or worse. “Gabumon Digivolve to Garurumon!” Better, then.

“Howling Blaster!” The hand moved away, and Souji felt his much larger partner nudge his side. He knew what that meant without needing to ask. Picking himself up, he climbed on to Garurumon’s back, still spitting out sand.

The others were running to the other side of the beach, one with a path up the slope. “We just need to last one more minute,” He got out around his gritty tongue. “Can you handle that?”

“I don’t think I can sustain this form for long without some sort of food… but I’ll try. Howling Blaster!” The Shellmon recoiled once again.

Souji glanced back at the others. Only Teddie, Chie, and their partners left. He adjusted his grip, letting his partner know. Just a few more seconds. Garurumon attacked once more, before turning and running after the others.

It was exhilarating. He felt the wind rushing past him… for the fifteen seconds that his partner could keep the form. They caught up to the others, and then he found himself sprawled out on the ground, even more sand in his mouth, with Gabumon next to him.

“Hey, uh… you okay?” Kanji asked.

“Still alive. That’s better than I thought I’d be an hour ago. Does anyone have any water or something?”

Naoto sighed. “That’s one more thing we need to look for. In this case, we should probably settle for a water source that’s clear and not the ocean. With Gabumon, Biyomon, and BlackAgumon able to create fire, we can theoretically boil away most of the usual health concerns.”

“Water would be nice…” Chie mused. “It’s pretty hot today for spring. Though we were just in a jungle…”

“I hadn’t noticed, but it is rather warm,” Yukiko agreed. “What do you think?” She asked Teddie.

“I don’t know. I’m used to having fur.” Souji sighed and returned to scraping out his mouth, figuring that he wasn’t going to have a way to properly wash it anytime soon that didn’t have a chance of making things worse.

“You’re also soaked through,” Yosuke pointed out. “So, do we search for water or food first?”

“There’s a lot of edible mushrooms that grow around water!” Palmon volunteered.

“So, water then?” Naoto asked, and received a round of nods. “Tentomon-san, could you scout ahead?”

And so they continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Naoto's taking charge. This is mostly because when, compared to the likes of Hanamura 'Foot in Mouth' Yosuke, Seta 'Eats His Little Sister's Science Project For Stats' Souji, and Satonaka 'Leroy Jenkins' Chie, she is the sensible one.  
> Also, Souji is not having a good day. By any stretch of the imagination.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finds a lake, which is good, because they didn't have water supplies.  
> It's a shame the Digimon end up ruining it for them.

By the time Tentomon came back with results, the sun was already low in the sky. “There’s a lake some ways to the north,” He buzzed. “It’s still not in Devimon controlled territory, surrounded by berries and mushrooms and full of tasty fish!”

“Why would fish be tasty?”

BlackAgumon sighed. “Tentomon, you should know better. We don’t talk about eating fish in front of Gomamon. We just don’t.”

“Sorry. I forgot.”

“Is this normal?” Chie asked. She didn’t want to have to stop eating sushi for a seal that she hadn’t known before today, no matter how cute it was.

“He won’t stop you,” Biyomon reassured them. “He just really doesn’t like it. If you try to catch any fish, he’ll probably warn them away, but something’s sure to bite!”

“Has this sort of thing happened before? It doesn’t seem like you’d have been able to even try to fish the way you used to be,” Yosuke remarked.

“You’d be surprised,” Patamon replied. “Come on, Tentomon, show us the lake! I’m hungry!”

“It might take a little while. There seems to be a bit of a territory dispute between two Monochromon herds. But I’m sure we’ll make it there before dark!”

“Monochromon? What’s that?” Kanji asked.

“They’re big Champion Digimon with thick hides. Mostly gentle, but if they get mad…”

“They breathe fire,” Palmon finished. “So could we not go past them?”

It was amazing how quickly the threat of being lit on fire caused the group to come to an agreement.

* * *

  
  


They did manage to reach the lake before the sun had fully set, although none of them had eaten since morning.

“Is that a trolley car?” Souji asked.

“Can’t be,” Yosuke replied. “There’s no roads or anything.”

“And the telephone booths?” Chie couldn’t help but point it out. “I think we could sleep in it... Though, it is a bit small…”

“We can make do,” Naoto decided. “Do any of you know how to fish, by any chance? While I’m sure at least some the local plants are edible, it would be best if we had some form of meat.”

“But… But…”

“Gomamon, you don’t have to eat the fish,” Gabumon noted. “You just can’t expect people to suddenly stop just because you’re there.”

“Besides, it’s not like we have fishing line or anything,” Kanji pointed out, seeming to ignore the fact that his digimon could use her vines as a net if she wasn’t busy identifying edible plants.

“Um, actually…” Yukiko reached into her pocket, pulling out their spare fishing line from earlier that day. “I have a few hooks as well, so if we just tied them to a branch or something…”

Gomamon cried out in despair and jumped into the lake. Chie winced. That was not good.

* * *

  
  


“Say, has anyone seen Gomamon?” Palmon asked. “Because we have enough food to serve now, and I don’t see him anywhere.”

“I saw him on the other side of the lake,” Biyomon replied. “You know how he gets. I’m sure he’ll come back before we go to sleep.”

On the other side of the makeshift camp, Souji was passing out roast fish and mushrooms. “Remember, everyone only gets one fish apiece. Satonaka, could you find your partner? I do have a non-fish serving for him.” Chie nodded and started running along the shore.

He was right where Biyomon said he would be, laying at the edge of the water. “Hey, Gomamon, the food’s done!”

For a moment, he didn’t respond. Eventually, however, he just sighed and walked over to her side. “Okay…” She picked him up, noting how soft he was. Like a cuddle toy.

She hoped he’d be feeling better soon. She liked Gomamon. It was just that her attempts to help people that didn’t involve kicking something tended to fall flat. So she wasn’t exactly the best person to talk to him at the moment.

At the very least, if it had to be her, she’d prefer to wait until after dinner. Food would be nice. Especially given how lunch had turned out. She’d never known that bread could become a chemical weapon…

* * *

  
  


“I believe,” Naoto stated, when they’d all settled around the campfire with their food, “that now would be a good time to actually get to know each other.”

“Really? So can you tell us why you look like a boy?” Yosuke asked. Without thinking, Chie reached over and punched him.

“Idiot! You don’t just go asking that!” Naoto sighed.

“No, it’s fine. I was expecting that question to come up eventually. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if people found out, but… when someone thinks ‘detective’, they generally don’t picture a girl in middle school.” Which made sense. But Chie was still glad she’d punched Yosuke. He was annoying.

“A detective, huh?” Souji mused. “That sounds like your life must be interesting, even considering…” He stopped to gesture at the world around them.

“I suppose it is, though this is still the strangest place I’ve ever been.” Nobody could really argue with that.

“It’s a lot nicer here than in my world,” Teddie volunteered. “We’ve only nearly died twice today!” That made everyone pause for a moment.

“...No offense, but if your world’s like that… I don’t think I ever want to go there.” The rest of the humans nodded in agreement with Yosuke’s statement. Chie might have been… enthusiastic… but she still knew when something was a bad idea.

Kanji sighed. “Yeah, I don’t know if I could take this day getting any crazier.”

* * *

  
  
  


“I bet my fire attack can go further than yours!” Biyomon shouted at the other side of the camp.

“Really?” BlackAgumon grinned, ready to take up the challenge.

“Can I get in on this?” Gabumon asked. The other two nodded. The three fired off their attacks at once. They hit a Seadramon. “This just isn’t our day…”

* * *

  
  


“You know, I can’t say they didn’t deserve it,” Yosuke noted as the three Digimon were washed back into the woods. “This also brings the count up to three. If we survive this.”

“Still nicer than my world.”

“Your world sucks,” Kanji pointed out.

“Let’s just look on the bright side! If Tentomon had been part of it, he would have been even madder!” Chie was sure Palmon was, in fact, trying to make them all feel better. She just happened to be terrible at it.

“Electro Shocker!” Oh, and that. Naoto buried her face in her hands. Chie looked around the little camp, trying to spot Gomamon. There he was, worryingly close to the shore.

“Chie-chan… the fish are all scared of Seadramon…” The little seal whimpered. “When he rampages like this… it’s not even for food, it’s just destructive!” Far too close to the shore.

“Hey, fish-breath!” Behind her, Chie could hear Souji groaning. He was one of the boring ones, anyway.

Seadramon turned to face her now, and maybe this had been a terrible idea. Well, too late to take it back. At least this meant Naoto’s partner might potentially not die.

She ran towards Gomamon, looking the massive serpent in the eye, trying not to freak out because this was a lot scarier than the movies made it out to be. And maybe kicking it wouldn’t be the solution to her problem. But she couldn’t back down now.

“Gomamon Digivolve to Ikkakumon!” Oh, good. She wouldn’t have to. Her walrus- far cooler than the cute little seal she’d had before- splashed into the lake. Without thinking, she ran to jump on his back.

“Let’s go, Ikkakumon! This is going to be awesome!”

“Harpoon Torpedo!”

 

* * *

 

“...You couldn’t have waited until we got back to land?” A soaked Chie asked from atop a raft of fish. Gomamon chuckled.

“Sorry, Chie-chan. I ran out of energy quicker than I thought I would.” They had won, at least. In the sense that the Seadramon was now licking its wounds and they likely wouldn’t be welcome back at the lake anymore as soon as it recovered.

At least it was likely to take the whole night. So they’d have time to rest. Them and the others that had apparently finished off most of the food while they were gone. Because of course they had.

Somehow, she couldn’t have seen it ending any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chie calls Souji one of the boring ones because he's relatively sensible. Relatively. That doesn't mean much here.  
> And of course she'd ride Ikkakumon out into the middle of the lake without thinking whether or not he could stay an Ikkakumon through the whole thing. It's a really good thing he has those fish.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, they don't know why they thought going into the desert was a good idea. At least it worked out in the end, with the Yokomon village and all.  
> Shame about Meramon, though.

None of the signs made any sense. Kanji supposed he shouldn’t have expected them to, nothing since arriving on this island made sense, but he’d hoped.

He had woken up that morning desperately hoping that the day before had been some sort of dream and promising himself never to eat anything else from the back of the fridge. Of course, when he woke up, he’d been staring into Palmon’s face, so that destroyed the dream theory pretty quickly.

It wasn’t that he minded having Palmon. Actually, he rather liked her. He just wished that having a Digimon didn’t mean being stuck on some random island with people he barely knew.

“I think we’re nearing Devimon-controlled territory,” BlackAgumon stated. “I mean, normally you’d see at least some small Rookies around, but-”

“But nothing since Seadramon,” Palmon finished, almost dragging her roots in the ground for how little she seemed to want to walk. Kanji considered picking her up but decided against it. He had no clue how far they’d be going that day, after all.

“You keep talking about that,” Yosuke noted. “Is Devimon really that scary? I mean, his name sounds scary, sure, but-”

“He’s a Champion Digimon with the strength to fight Ultimates- and win,” Tentomon replied. “At least, that’s what we’ve heard. File Island doesn’t have a lot of Ultimates we can test with.”

“That would make a lot more sense if we knew what those were.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Gabumon shrugged it off. “There’s a lot of us, but we’re still Rookies. Odds are, we won’t even catch his attention.”

Looking back on it, Kanji supposed that was the moment when their fates were sealed. Most people didn’t tempt fate so thoroughly, after all. But at the moment, they were still used to a world that didn’t follow such things as literary conventions, nor did half of them even know what they were.

They would learn. Slowly, and painfully, but they would learn.

* * *

  
  


Kanji had never been to a desert before. Kanji had never expected to need to go to a desert before. And he most certainly hadn’t wanted to wander into one without at least proper supplies, but Teddie had charged right on ahead and the rest had to follow. They were all in this together, after all, even if they’d mostly only met the day before.

That had been two hours ago. Now, they were still lost, and most of them were not enjoying the heat, though Palmon, Chie, and Gomamon seemed to have it worst.

“I wish I wasn’t aquatic…”

“Why is it so hot?”

“My leaves are wilting…” No, they were most certainly not happy at the moment.

Still, they could have had it worse. While nobody was pleased with Teddie for dragging them into this mess in the first place, they were still willing to listen to him when he spoke up again.

“I can smell something familiar in this direction,” He commented, which was enough to convince them to go in that direction, because they were already lost in the desert and there was very little that could make that situation worse.

Gabumon and BlackAgumon were the next to pick up the scent. “That smells like Yokomon,” BlackAgumon stated. “A lot of them. There must be a village near here.”

Yokomon. It took Kanji a few moments to remember where he’d heard it before- Yukiko’s partner, for the roughly half hour it took before she Digivolved into Biyomon.

“There are villages here?” Naoto asked. “We were under the impression that Digimon just lived wild.”

“That’s because most of us do,” Gabumon confirmed. “But there are others that like the idea of living in a community. Mostly they’re low Level, but Champion Digimon and higher have been known to run businesses.”

“You’re most likely to find a village in the desert, though,” Biyomon commented. “In a place like this, it’s easiest to share resources.”

“You used to be a Yokomon, too, right, Piyo-chan?” Yukiko asked. “Do you think you could get them to help us?”

“I probably would be able to. Just don’t let Teddie, Tentomon, Chie, or Gomamon talk, and it should be fine.”

Kanji was glad that they hadn’t yet caught on to his utter lack of social skills. Otherwise, he would likely have been forbidden to speak as well.

But since it would be Biyomon and Naoto doing all of the talking, it didn’t really matter. Everyone just had to follow their lead, and it would all be fine.

He wanted to be useful, but his talents only went so far. If anything ever called for a tailor in the desert, he’d step up to the task, but for now it was blissfully unnecessary.

* * *

  
  


The fact was, Kanji couldn’t help but feel isolated from the rest of them. He’d probably hang out with Chie and Yukiko normally, but they were currently surrounded by Yokomon that were trapped in some state of hero worship for Biyomon.

He supposed he could try to talk to some of the others, but Naoto was currently asking Teddie about the world he came from- Kanji heard enough to know he never wanted to go there- and Souji seemed to be befriending Yosuke. Not much room for him to squeeze in.

“Kanji?” Palmon glanced up at him. “Is there a problem?”

“What makes you think that?”

“You haven’t moved in five minutes. Is it the heat? The Yokomon said they have a well.” Sure. He’d go with that. Given how long they’d been in the desert, water would be nice.

Not that he did get that drink. Honestly, bringing up the rope to see that the bucket had been disintegrated was probably a bad sign.

Even if it wasn’t, the pillar of fire certainly was. Everyone else gathered around to watch the spectacle. It took five whole minutes for it to die down, which was honestly the most terrifying part.

“That’s not supposed to happen…” One of the Yokomon whimpered. “It’s like when Meramon gets upset.”

“Who is Meramon, anyway?” Yosuke asked.

“Meramon’s the guardian of that mountain over there. That’s where all of our water comes from, so we have to hope he’s doing okay… this hasn’t happened in a long time.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like the gear that hit the mountain a while back?” Another Yokomon suggested. “Though I suppose we’ll be able to ask him soon. See? He’s coming down now!”

“Is he supposed to have that evil look on his face?” Yukiko’s question seemed to come out of nowhere, but it was fairly important.

“No, Meramon’s usually gentle… wait, he has what!?” And thus, the Yokomon all began to freak out.

“Calm down, everyone,” Biyomon tried. “We have Garurumon and Ikkakumon, right?” Gabumon and Gomamon exchanged glances and shook their heads.

“I can’t quite seem to repeat it,” Gabumon admitted. “I’m not sure why, though.”

“Even if I could, Ikkakumon wouldn’t be very useful,” Gomamon pointed out. “I mean, I can barely move on land as it is!” Which was true, especially in the desert. Chie had taken to carrying him around when they needed to go uphill for a while, and decided not to even bother putting him down when they reached the sand dunes.

“...We’re going to die here, aren’t we?” Yosuke groaned.

“Why?” Teddie asked. “It can’t be that bad, I mean, lots of Shadows in my world throw around fire, and it’s just fine.” For whatever reason, every time Teddie said something about his world, Kanji became more resolved never to go there.

“I think our first priority should be getting the Yokomon to safety,” Naoto decided. “One of us should stay back and guard, as our partners have previously Digivolved in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, we don’t have an immediate counter to fire, so we’ll need to figure out who it should be.”

“I’ll do it.” Kanji was pretty sure he’d even surprised himself by saying it. But despite the initial awkwardness, he was starting to like these people. And he wanted them to like him, too. He didn’t want to be just that kid in the corner. He wanted to be someone they could rely on.

Nobody tried to contest his decision. “Stay safe, Kanji-kun,” Yukiko told him before following the Yokomon in their retreat.

“A-are you sure about this?” Palmon asked.

“Bit too late to change my mind, isn’t it?” Meramon was approaching the village faster by the second. Kanji could almost make out what he was shouting.

“Is he… complaining about the temperature?”

“Hot, hot, hothothot HOT!” Closer inspection revealed that Meramon was, in fact, complaining about the temperature. And this still wasn’t even close to the weirdest thing that had happened today.

Kanji really hated his life right now. But he’d committed himself to helping the others, so that was what he would do. “You ready for this?” He asked his partner.

“As I’ll ever be.” And that was the last word she got in, as the fiery Digimon had descended upon the village. At least, that wasn’t simple cries of “Plant Shock!” or “Poison Ivy!”, anyway.

Not that it would be enough. No plant Rookie would defeat a fire Champion.

The key word there, of course, would be Rookie. Because as sure as Kanji knew he couldn’t allow Meramon to get past him, he needed more power. Power that was suddenly available.

“Palmon Digivolve to Togemon!” This was the point when the air started to be filled with needles.

* * *

  
  


The second night in this new world passed much more peacefully than the first, although that wasn’t saying much. There wasn’t any reason to worry about the appearance of another Digimon- Meramon and the Yokomon were the only ones living in this part of the desert.

No, what kept them up that night was the fact that Meramon had been controlled by something- an odd black gear. If it could control something as powerful as him, what else could they do? Were there more?

Admittedly, such questions took a backseat to why they were there in the first place, but that wasn’t the point. The fact was, things weren’t looking very good to the seven of them.

Well, maybe Teddie. But given that he treated everything as an improvement over his own world, they decided not to count him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Sometimes, I feel sorry for these kids. From the very start, they have decided that Teddie's world is the one place they never want to end up. And then Persona 4 happens.  
>  Their best plan for diplomacy is: ban as many people from talking as possible. Probably a good idea. Clear communication isn't exactly their strong point.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto doesn't have very high standards for a good shelter at this point. But she does have standards, and that ominous factory off in the distance doesn't seem to be checking any of her boxes.  
> And then the group gets separated. Because, obviously, the world hates her.

Naoto adjusted her hat, attempting to shield her eyes from the harsh sun, with mixed results. She was, in fact, able to see… the ground directly beneath her feet. Such were the hazards of being lost in the desert.

Not that she was the worst off, not by a long shot. That would go to Chie, who had been wearing a jacket earlier and now had no clue what to do with it. Eventually, Yukiko had decided to take it, as she wasn’t quite as affected by the heat as the rest of them.

“Are we there yet…?” Gomamon asked, currently hanging on to Kanji alongside Palmon as Chie wasn’t exactly up to it.

“Can’t answer,” Souji pointed out. “Not until we actually know where ‘there’ is.” Sad, but true. It had only been three hours, but at this point, Naoto was tempted to turn the whole group around, aside from the fact that they’d never get anywhere by going in circles.

She silenced the part of her mind that reminded her that they’d never get anywhere dead. She knew the risks. If they didn’t find anyplace by the end of the day, she’d turn back first thing in the morning.

“All I can smell is sand…” Teddie moaned, no longer the cheerful kid who was making sandcastles near the Yokomons’ lake that morning.

“It could be worse,” BlackAgumon pointed out. “You could be a dark-colored reptile.”

“Or you could have fur,” Gabumon added. “I’m glad I’m not a BlackGabumon right now.” He then had to duck a claw that the dinosaur next to him swung at him. “Sorry! I thought you wanted to cheer him up!”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a Dark Digimon!” He protested. “...Well, okay, maybe right now… but still!”

“Please don’t fight…” Patamon whined. “I don’t like it when friends are fighting.” His ears drooped, and Yosuke immediately lifted them back up.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be my sun-shield.” The other five humans gave him weird looks. “What? What else was I supposed to do with him?”

Before they could gang up on Yosuke for improper Digimon care, however, Biyomon and Tentomon returned from scouting.

“Yukiko, we did it! We saw something!” Biyomon cheered. Naoto turned to her partner. Right. Professionalism first, otherwise she risked losing her composure in a potentially dangerous situation.

“Is this correct, Tentomon-san?” She asked, just to be sure.

“Why, yes! We found a large building, likely some kind of factory, a haven in the harsh desert!”

“...You think they have indoor plumbing?” Yukiko asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Chie pointed out. “What do you think, Shirogane?”

Did they even have a choice? “I certainly don’t see why not.”

* * *

  
  
  


They had gotten separated. Of course they had. Between Yukiko wandering off and Souji and Yosuke going to search for a vending machine, the party had started to dwindle.

How bad? Well, Naoto wasn’t sure there were any groups of more than two at the moment, and the only other human- well, sort of- with her was Teddie.

On one hand, he was easily the most childish of the group, to the point that she wondered, at times, why his human body was not that of an actual child. On the other, the implications of a being from yet another world, one that had changed form when coming to this one, were fascinating.

Not that she was going to interrogate him or anything- even her poor social skills were enough to understand how that might end up being a bad idea.

“Where could the others have gone off to?” Tentomon asked, buzzing around the conveyor belts.

Said belts didn’t seem to serve any particular purpose. They just put things together, and pulled them apart again in a large circle.

“It seems so pointless…” BlackAgumon remarked. “Is there even anything here?”

“There has to be something,” Teddie replied. “It would be more bear-ren otherwise.”

His partner turned. “Did- did you just-?”

“Did I what?”

“N-nothing. It’s nothing.”

Naoto didn’t put much thought to that. The boy did, after all, pepper bear puns into any sentence he could. She could only dread the day he decided to diversify.

“It doesn’t matter right now. What matters is tracking down everyone else. We’re already someplace we don’t understand, we can’t go losing people like this.” With that, she stepped into the next room.

It wasn’t that different from the room before. Just more conveyor belts, continuing the endless cycle. Well, for the most part.

The cylinder on the other side of the room was new. Naoto found herself gravitating towards it, Tentomon buzzing low over her shoulder. Her eyes scanned the surface of the object, looking for cracks, lines- a door, which she slid open with barely the brush of a hand.

Most of the factory had been uninteresting. This area, though… All around her she could see symbols drawn into the walls, as if made with a marker.

“Digicode?” BlackAgumon asked as he stepped in. “It’s not a form I recognize.”

“Digicode? Is that the written language of your world?” Naoto asked, just to be sure.

“That it is!” Tentomon confirmed. “Though I don’t understand it here… half of these symbols don’t show up in any writing I’ve ever seen.”

“They don’t make any sense, do they?” Teddie commented. “Power supply… assembly and disassembly… emergency shut-off protocols…”

“You can understand that?” Naoto asked in surprise.

“No. I can read it, though.” Right. She filed that away with all the rest of the things that made Teddie weird. Hopefully, she’d get used to it eventually.

Not that it stopped her from wanting to learn more. It just really wasn’t the proper time for that.

* * *

  
  


“...Do I even want to ask?” Naoto supposed she could separate the situation into good and bad parts. The good news was that the group had managed to find each other again.

The bad news was that somewhere along the way Yosuke had offended a killer robot. Somehow.

“We don’t really know, either,” Souji admitted. “One minute we were pulling him out of some gears to ask for directions, and the next…” He gestured to where Garurumon and Togemon were attempting to fight Andromon and failing miserably. “That.”

“So, we’re blaming Hanamura for this, right?” Chie asked, as though looking for confirmation.

“I am… unsure.” She sighed and shook her head. “Were it not for the circumstances, though, being able to meet this Digimon would have been amazing.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a fully-functional android,” She pointed out. “And, if I’m not mistaken, completely sapient as well. That a world as desolate as this could attain such a technology level, and have it common enough for our Digimon to recognize… there could be something to learn here.”

“Please not more of this…” Yosuke groaned. “It was bad enough when you were going off on Meramon after he was freed of that… black… gear…” A pause. A simultaneous moment of realization from him, Souji, and Naoto.

“You think he’s being controlled?” Naoto asked, trying not to sound too excited. A chance to actually speak with Andromon while he was sane… the things she could learn.

Souji nodded. “Not that it matters. Tatsumi-san freed Meramon by having Togemon beat him in a fight. And our partners… are at a severe disadvantage.”

“Even if we could, I wouldn’t want to talk to someone with a short-circuiting brain,” Kanji commented.

Short-circuiting… Naoto wasn’t even sure what she was thinking in that moment, but… “Tentomon-san! Assist Garurumon and Togemon!”

Science certainly wasn’t the reason they were in this mess. But maybe, just maybe… It could get them out.

Tentomon obeyed her orders without question, flying forward as a bright light enveloped him.

“Tentomon Digivolve to Kabuterimon!”

Yeah. They were going to be just fine.

* * *

  
  


“If you don’t want to pass through the desert anymore, you can leave this way,” Andromon stated. “Fair warning, it’s a sewer.”

“So, does that mean you have indoor plumbing after all?” Yosuke asked.

“Yes. The facilities are three halls away, across from the wall that acts as a vending machine.”

“As in a whole wall of food?” Naoto asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. She figured she was probably failing at it, of course. But there was no harm in trying.

“Yes, albeit of varying nutritional value.”

With that information, Naoto made what would easily be the most popular decision of her leadership.

“We’re staying the night.”

And she was met by many cheers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In actuality, they were planning on leaving the Yokomon village the way they came. It's just that, come morning, none of them could remember the way they came. This had consequences.  
> Teddie's sort of like Minako in my other story. In a sense, all sufficiently powerful Shadows are omniglots. His is a bit less experienced, however- he can read and say things, but in no way does that include proper comprehension. Maybe one day.  
> And of course they stayed the night in the place with running water and easily available food. They'd probably stay for a lot longer if it wasn't, you know, a completely ominous factory.


End file.
